


One Admiral and His Beagle

by Livelongandfangirling



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: (mainly dog shenanigans), Canon Filler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24916654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livelongandfangirling/pseuds/Livelongandfangirling
Summary: The story of just how Jim Kirk came to know Admiral Archer's prize beagle (as briefly mentioned in Star Trek (2009)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	One Admiral and His Beagle

**Author's Note:**

> So when I got into Trek I watched it all out of sequence (AOS first, then Enterprise) and when I first saw Enterprise I first, fell in love with Porthos because I love dogs, and second, wondered just how on earth Archer would fit into AOS. So multiple headcanons and such later I've finally came up with this.  
> This is literally just a canon filler, because I am a sucker for all the AOS lore.

Winter in San Francisco, as it turned out, was much nicer than Riverside. While 14 degrees wasn’t exactly toasty, Jim was at least comfortable enough not to need a jacket over his cadet uniform as he walked across campus from his dorm to the Daystrom building for his meeting with Admiral Archer.

The Academy was fairly quiet, it was almost the end of exam season, so the majority of cadets that were free of their exam timetable had headed home for two weeks of freedom before the start of the next semester. Jim however, was more than happy to stay in California.

He had planned on spending the day walking around the city since Bones was still stuck doing exams, but for some reason Jim’s guidance tutor wanted to have a word with him. About what, he had absolutely no idea. Still, the fresh air was nice and far better than the exam hall he’d spent the past three days cooped up in. Plus it felt good to not be walking around campus with a stack of PADD’s and books cradled in his arms. Instead he could happily walk at a leisurely pace (not _too_ leisurely, he didn’t want to be late) and even admire the view of the Golden Gate Bridge with very little disturbance when he reached the Daystrom building.

That was, until Jim could swear he saw a dog running across the green with what had to be a cadet chasing after it.

“Porthos!!!” The cadet, who was at best twenty meters behind Jim, called out. Thankfully, the green was empty of its usual picnickers and study groups. Otherwise the dog, and the cadet chasing it, would have caused much more damage. The cadet called out to the dog again to no avail and it wasn’t until Jim clicked the dog’s appearance; small with a white, black and brown coat, that the familiarity of the name currently being frantically called out made sense.

“Shit” Jim cursed under his breath and started running towards the dog, briefly looking over his shoulder to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally run into the other cadet who was still calling out to Porthos. Jim, who was much closer as he was almost at the main steps anyway, slowed down when he was a few metres away from the small dog. “Hey, Porthos!” Jim spoke softly, and clicked his fingers to try and grab the beagle’s attention. Porthos didn’t fully slow to a stop, but was briefly distracted enough by a second voice talking to him that Jim had just enough time to reach over and scoop him up from the ground. “I got him!” Jim called out in the other cadet’s direction while he checked to see that Porthos was okay. And other than looking quite pleased with himself, the little dog was completely fine.

Jim looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps, and smiled at the cadet who had slowed to a light jog.

“Dammit Porthos!” The cadet exclaimed through a few panted breaths. She briefly doubled over herself, her long dark brown hair (that looked like it had been styled to sit out of her face before she’d chased Porthos across the green) swishing through the air. “You almost scared me to death!” She appeared to be human, her accent wasn’t North American, European perhaps. “I don’t normally chase dogs across campus, for the record” She huffed, fixing her hair. “Cadet Carmichael-Reed” There was some kind of familiarity about the name that Jim couldn’t quite place, and while he was almost certain she was just being polite or following protocol, he also took it as cue to hand over Porthos.

“It’s Kirk, Jim Kirk” Jim paused, noticing the bronze second year badges on the epaulettes of her cadet reds. “Ma’am” 

“Oh” Carmichael-Reed’s pale eyes widened before smiling at Jim softly, obviously recognising his name as everyone else always did. “Well thank you for catching Porthos, Cadet Kirk” She smiled again before turning away, scratching Porthos’ ear as she climbed the first few steps up to the main entrance.

“Uh wait!” Jim called out to her and she stopped after few paces and turned around, looking at him curiously. “Are you taking him back to Admiral Archer?” The cadet nodded. “I have a meeting with him I’ll walk with you”

“Alright then” She replied, waiting for Jim to catch up so they could walk together. “For your sake I hope you’re not in trouble”

“I’m not, Archer’s my guidance tutor”

“Ah, mine too” Carmichael-Reed briefly smiled, leading the way through the door, passing Richard Daystrom’s, Zeframe Cocherane’s and Admiral Archer’s portraits in the main lobby.

“I thought it was just a rumour that Archer let students walk his dog for extra credit” Jim mused, pressing the button for the turbolift.

“Oh no” Cadet Carmichael-Reed shook her head with an amused smile, intentionally or not emphasising her Southern English accent. “I just walk Porthos for him in-between classes, and he had a meeting this morning so…”

“I’m surprised Archer lets Porthos out of his sight” Jim chuckled, reaching over to pat the dog on the head. “I swear he hates it if I pet him for too long” Carmichael-Reed shook her head and laughed.

“This little guy is the direct descendant of _the_ Porthos Archer had with him on the NX-01, so he is very attached. Which is why you nearly gave me heart failure when you worked you’re way out of your collar” Porthos didn’t even react to his brief stern talking too and continued to wag his tail as he sat happily tucked underneath the cadet’s arm.

Finally the turbolift doors opened and Jim let Carmichael-Reed go in first, he pressed the button for the seventh floor and sighed, his worry over just what this meeting was going to be about briefly returned. As he shook his head and tried to think of something else, he thought back to his Federtion History module, and the familiarity of the cadet’s last name finally made sense.

“Wait… your last name’s Reed as in _Malcolm_ Reed?” Bones had kept telling Jim that he needed to work on not starting conversations so bluntly (and Bones for the record, was in far more pressing need of a new bedside manner). Carmichael-Reed initially said nothing as her cheeks turned red, Porthos continued to happily wag his tail.

“Yeah…” She nodded with pink cheeks and a small smile. Jim hummed almost out of amusement, and watched as Carmichael-Reed rushed out the turbolift doors when they opened. Jim followed behind and met her at the security checkpoint. They both passed through without fuss and finally ended up at the door of Admiral Archer’s office. “You can come in if you’d like I won’t be a minute” With a free hand she knocked on the door twice before it opened, and she walked in with a cheery smile.

“Good Morning Sir” Jim stepped in the room and deliberately stayed by the door patiently waiting his turn.

“Ah good morning Rachel” The elderly but still very sharp Admiral smiled up at the second-year cadet from his desk. “I see someone decided to wriggle out their collar again” Jim almost forgot that the window of Archer’s office looked out over the green, and this time Porthos lowered his head at Archer’s tone but only slightly.

“I’m really sorry sir” Rachel, Jim was glad to finally know what her first name was, gently put Porthos down on his bed in the corner of the room and walked back round to the front of the large desk, standing at ease.

“Oh it’s not your fault, don’t worry about it”

“Well it’s Cadet Kirk you have to thank for catching him, speaking of…” Rachel tilted her head in Jim’s direction.

“Dismissed, have a save trip home. Send everyone my regards”

“Will do Sir” Rachel turned on her heels and walked straight out of Archer’s office, giving Jim a small smile as she did so.

“Have a seat Jim” The Admiral greeted him with his usual warm smile that still after so many years reached up into his eyes. He was also the second person alongside Captain Pike that actually called him Jim as opposed to Cadet Kirk, which was why he liked him. Not that Starfleet protocol bothered him much, he just felt that if Archer was going to be keeping an eye on him for the remaining three and a half years, they might as well dump some of the impersonal formalities.

None the less Jim sat down in one of the two chairs that was on the other side of Archer’s desk and straightened the collar of his uniform. Archer’s desk hadn’t changed over the Winter break, the three pictures that he’d wistfully look at every now and then were still sat in one corner with the monitor and permanent stack of PADD’s on the other. “You don’t want a drink, something to eat?” Another reason Jim didn’t mind Archer, he was always welcome to help himself to whatever he wanted from the food synthesiser that was by the window.

“I’m fine, thank you sir” For some reason Jim found himself sitting up straighter than usual, that brough out a small chuckle from Archer.

“At ease before you sprain something” The Admiral proceeded to ask Jim about his exams; which were challenging in places, but fine; and how Jim was finding San Francisco, which again was fine, better than fine even. He almost told Archer that California was starting to feel like home already, but he wasn’t quite sure if he could bear to see the genuinely overjoyed look on the Admiral’s face. At some point Porthos emerged from his bed, and made himself comfortable on the second chair next to Jim. As he petted the small dog, Jim wondered if all Admiral Archer had called him in for was a chat about the weather.

“I know you were disappointed when you didn’t get assigned Captain Pike” Archer spoke with a small frown. Truthfully, at the time Jim was. But almost right away Captain Pike had an open door policy with Jim, he always knew that he had been free to see him whenever he wanted. Jim went to speak when he was cut off by a raised hand. “Did he ever tell you that he was the one who talked me out of retirement?” Jim shook his head, he went to question it until he realised that Pike also recruited Jim from the floor of an Iowa bar, so he didn’t say anything.

“After…” Jim already knew the reason why Archer hesitated before he spoke another word. “Starfleet was really thrown after what happened to the Kelvin, no one will ever admit it but they were. About a few weeks after Captain Pike came all the way to my house, almost begged me to come back”

“Why?” Jim asked, suddenly desperate to know. Archer gave a small shake of the head and shrugged.

“He seemed to think that I could still do some good, impart some wisdom, help keep you unruly cadets on the straight and narrow” They both chuckled at that part. Archer sighed and leaned back in his chair; he had the look of a man that wondered if he was doing something right, but only briefly as he went back to wistfully looking at the trio of pictures. “And I suppose a part of me felt like I have some kind of responsibility, Starfleet is only as good as the people that’s in it”

“Surely you’ve done enough to be allowed to retire in peace” Jim mused. Archer hummed and looked out of the window.

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me that I worry too much, speaking of…” Archer’s voice trailed off as he looked back at Porthos. “Thank you again for saving my dog”

“Oh don’t mention it” Jim waved a dismissive hand, truthfully, he would have ran across the entire campus if it meant Porthos being safe and sound.

“Well, I assume that Miss Carmichael-Reed told you how she walks Porthos for me in-between her classes” He paused long enough for Jim to nod before continuing. “Well, as she’s a second year she’ll be doing her first rounds of fleet training in a few months. And I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind filling in for her while she’s away” So Archer didn’t call him in to talk about the weather, just to see if he’d like to walk his dog.

“Um…” Jim hesitated, and for some reason looked over at the beagle that was now stood up wagging his tail. He actually quite liked Porthos, usually when Jim would come to see Archer the dog would greet him at the door, sniff his trouser hem and happily go back to his bed.

“Only if you have enough time in your schedule” Oh hell, Jim could probably use the occasional bought of fresh air.

“Sure, that’ll be fine Sir”

When Jim got back to the dorm he found Bones lying on his bed looking surprisingly beat, he’d came back for a brief break before his next exam because apparently having already been through seven years of medical school wasn’t enough. When Jim told him what Admiral Archer wanted Bones laughed and rolled his eyes. In his mind Archer had just given him a trust exercise in the guide of a favour and left not long after looking very amused, saying that if Archer trusted Jim with his dog then maybe there was hope for him after all.

A few weeks later when the second semester had finally started Jim found himself back in Archer’s office on one of his days off (he’d even arrived a few minutes early and not for appearances sake). And after being given a summary of the routes around campus he could take Jim left the Daystrom building, returning an hour later with a well exercised Porthos.

What he didn’t expect to find was Admiral Archer sat on one of the benches by the green. He claimed he just wanted some fresh air, and Jim didn’t press on the matter. He handed Porthos’ lead over to the Admiral, who asked if Jim would be available the same time next week. Jim nodded, and only after scratching Porthos’ ear did he leave heading in the direction of the library, thinking that maybe having Admiral Archer keep an eye on him wasn’t such a bad thing.

**Author's Note:**

> So a couple of things I didn't manage to fit in:  
> \- Archer doesn't name all of his beagles Porthos, my personal headcanon is that he names them all after characters from The Three Musketeers and when Porthos Jr arrived he just reminded Archer of the original Porthos so much that the name just stuck.  
> \- The pictures Archer has on his desk are all of the NX-01 crew and their families (because of course they're all one massive extended family)  
> \- I don't know how universities work outside of the UK, but a guidance tutor is someone a student can go to if they're having problems. It's not the most strenuous of jobs which makes the most sense for a man who's pushing almost 150.


End file.
